An American (Howard)

From a letter to his friend Tevis Clyde Smith, circa December 1928. First published in The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval (2007).

585634An AmericanRobert Ervin Howard1928

Sing of my ancestors!
Sing of them with pride!
Sing of fair America,
Green prairies and blue tide!
One was born in County Cork!
Hail the shamrock green!
(One was named Abraham
Simeon Levine.)
One held rule in Dundee,
Friend of the Montrose.
(One sold nuts and apples
Where the river Tiber flows.)
One drank ale in Devonshire,
One scaled Lomond's crags.
(One grew up in Warsaw
And peddled clothes and rags.)
One sailed out from Liverpool,
Bold and free and glad.
(One lended cash at high
Rates in Petrograd.)
Och, oi, oi, and hoot mon!
Gott sie dank go bragh!
Gevald! Be dommed! Diavoli!
America iss braw!
Shure, its meself thot loves the land,
Vy shouldn't I? Oi oi!
Some fellow he no lika diss,
I'm nae you kind o' boy!
Its aiche mon for his ain, py hell!
A feller got to stand
An' tella people who he iss
And brag on his own land!
Vun nation unt vun langvitche!
Oi! And go for business fine
To Michael Israel Malcolmsky
Gammettio O'Stein.

This work published after December 31, 2002 is in the public domain in the United States because the author died at least 70 years ago. This is a posthumous work and may be copyrighted in certain countries and areas, based on how many years after posthumous publication, rather than how many years after author's death.